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隠し剣鬼の爪 - Wikipedia

Tags: film, japan_week, kakushi_ken_oni_no_tsume, yamada_yoji on 2007-12-26 -All Annotations (0) -About

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Another samurai swinging in Edo's twilight | The Japan Times Online

Tags: film, japan_week, kakushi_ken_oni_no_tsume, yamada_yoji on 2007-12-26 -All Annotations (0) -About

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Yamada films this story in the same subdued and realistic, if emotionally charged, style as "Tasogare." Instead of the dancelike sword fights of so many jidai geki, though, the duels in "Oni no Tsume" look sweaty, tiring and dangerous. Also, instead of the theme-park appearance of so many jidai geki, with every kimono and fusuma (sliding door) seemingly brand new, the clothes and sets in "Oni no Tsume" have a lived-in, even worn-out, look. Meanwhile, the cast of characters, particularly the lower classes, mostly look in need of a long rest and a few good meals. The full-of-beans folks of so many jidai geki, forever about to burst into song or dance are nowhere in sight.
Serious though he may be, Yamada is first and foremost an entertainer who is dedicated to giving his large audience what it wants.
But while the martial-arts-trained Sanada impressed more with his sword skills, Nagase is more convincingly the pacifist at heart who turns to violence only out of extreme necessity -- but knows how to mete it out. The sense of banked fires that can flare up, which Yamada deployed to good effect in the earlier film, is still present, though Nagase, now pushing 40 and no longer the wild kid, really seems to mean it when he says he wants a quiet life with the woman he loves.

When the world is going mad around you, carving out a small oasis of sanity is no mean feat. Sometimes it helps to have a hidden blade.

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Showing samurai as they were: interview with Yoji Yamada | The Japan Times Online

Tags: bushi_no_ichibun, film, japan_week, kakushi_ken_oni_no_tsume, tasogare_seibei, yamada_yoji on 2007-12-26 -All Annotations (0) -About

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Yoji Yamada, 71, is a Japanese film industry icon. His "Tora-san" series, about a wandering peddler who is forever falling in love, but never gets the girl, generated 48 hit installments -- and made Yamada the most successful Japanese director of his generation. He has also won his share of prizes, both domestic and international.
I had seen many period dramas over the years, but I wasn't satisfied with them. They were full of lies and said nothing about how the samurai really lived.
I wanted to try to make a film that would show how the samurai lived, ate, talked and felt.
I wanted to shoot more realistic fight scenes than you see in [samurai movies], even Kurosawa's. I mean, when the bad guys have the hero surrounded, why do they always attack him one at a time, so he can pick them off? Why don't they all go for him at once?
Also, when the bad guys are cut, they die right away. In reality, it's a lot harder to kill someone in a sword fight, unless you get in a good cut. According to period accounts, samurai sword fights could go for two or three hours. They'd cut each other again and again, until they turned white -- and the weaker one finally fell. That's how it was -- they would slowly die of blood loss.
Also, back then women didn't usually wear the sorts of flashy clothes that you see in samurai films. They dressed more plainly. They didn't do their makeup as nicely or wear their hair as elaborately. I wanted to show that.
I tried to include plot elements that present-day Japanese could relate to. When you're ordered to do something by the boss, you have to do it -- or it might be the end of your job.
Some people buckle under the pressure and commit suicide. I
She has a modern way of thinking, that's true. In a way, her story is a critique of the feudal system, though the film doesn't spell it out as such.
In the Middle Ages, Japanese women were fairly strong and made important contributions to culture, but in the Edo Period and the Meiji Era [1868-1912] women more or less disappeared from public view.
Min Tanaka, the butoh dancer who plays the hero's opponent in the climactic fight,
He had been in a lot of period dramas, but he told me he was also dissatisfied with them. He wanted to know why everything had to be so beautiful, when it wasn't like that in reality.
Real samurai stand differently, somewhat like noh actors. Not straight up, but with their hips forward a bit. They take small steps, without lifting their feet from the ground -- they do that to keep the sword steady.
There's something of a period drama boom now, but unlike "Tasogare Seibei," many of the new period dramas use computer graphics to create fantasy elements. They aren't about realism at all.

Yes, that kind of fantastic film is popular. Also, there are a lot of horror films now. In troubled times like these, more films like that tend to get made -- fantasy and horror. People want to escape, and that's what they go for.
Japanese are wondering what is going to happen to the country. They feel anxious -- and so do I. What's going to happen to the banks? Is my money going to be there tomorrow? But at the end of "Tasogare Seibei," Seibei is with his children -- and as long as he has his family and they all love each other, he can go on. The audience leaves with the feeling that everything will somehow turn out all right.
That worries me -- how will people from other countries react? But we're living in anxious times, when people everywhere don't know what is going to happen next. What is the Bush administration going to do? Will they start a war? That is certainly worrying. Why have things come to this pass? Why can't this be settled by the United Nations? Why do we have to have this sort of international conflict? What is going to happen if a war starts?

People from Iran and other Islamic counties who took part in February's Berlin Film Festival certainly felt this sort of anxiety. The world has come to a strange and unpleasant pass. So in that sense, I think people abroad will be able to relate to the film, even though Americans and Europeans don't feel the same economic anxiety as Japanese.

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The Hidden Blade - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tags: film, japan_week, kakushi_ken_oni_no_tsume, yamada_yoji on 2007-12-26 -All Annotations (0) -About

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set in Japan in the 1860
Munezo Katagiri, a lower caste samura
They have a hard time adapting. The older samurais feel that fighting with firearms is without honor and goes against tradition.
He carries Kie home to nurse her back to health, both actions which are viewed as very "improper" for an umarried samurai.
“A samurai does not inform on his fellows.”
Meanwhile, rumors are spreading about Katagiri and Kie. Though they clearly love each other, they cannot marry because they are from different castes.
The Chief Retainer summons Katagiri and orders him to kill Hazama.
Hazama’s wife visits Katagiri and begs him to let Hazama escape. She offers herself to him in return. Katagiri tells her that it is impossible.
But before he can make the final strike, Hazama is shot and killed by the riflemen.
Hazama’s wife had visited the Chief Retainer Hori and offered herself to him if he would spare Hazama’s life.
To avenge Hazama and his wife, Katagiri assassinates the Chief Retainer with a poisoned needle hidden in the handle of his wakizashi (presumably, "the hidden blade" or "demon's claw" move)
Hazama’s wife commits hari-kiri upon realizing that she has been deceived.